The Rise of Skywalker blasted into theaters with $374million in global ticket sales over the weekend as fans rushed to see the final chapter in the Star Wars saga, distributor Walt Disney Co said on Sunday.

The massive ticket sales show Star Wars remains one of the premiere Hollywood franchises able to draw big crowds to theaters, but the results also fell short of the prior films in the current trilogy. 

The 2015 movie The Force Awakens opened with $517million domestically and 2017's The Last Jedi had a $450million global debut.

Roughly $176million of the total for Rise of Skywalker came from the United States and Canada, ranking as the 12th-biggest opening of all time, and the third biggest in December, in the world's largest film market.

'That's a great number for December,' said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. 

'This is a huge franchise. It's got fans in every corner of the world.'

But, Bock added, 'that's a 20 per cent decline (domestically) from the last installment. That's a cause for concern no matter how big your franchise is.'